Clinton, S.C. – Davon Bell scored the final 11 Blue Hose points including the game winner with .4 seconds left to give PC the 73-70 win over North Carolina A&T on Saturday night at the Templeton Center. Bell finished with a game high 22 points and led four PC players that finished in double figures.

Blue Hose Player of the Game

Bell scored a game high 22 points going a perfect 7-7 from field including 2-2 from three in the second half. He also added six assists and two steals. Reggie Dillard scored 19 points to go along with four rebounds and two assists while Romeo Crouch added a career high 13 points on a career high three made three-pointers and four made field goals. Armel TeTe scored 10 points a game after scoring his career high 12 points against UNCG.

Stat of the Game

PC outscored North Carolina A&T by a 34-20 margin in the paint and shot 51.9 percent from the field compared to NC A&T’s 39.2 percent.

How it happened

The Aggies jumped out to a 17-7 lead with 11 minutes to play in the first half that is when PC went on a 25-5 run over the last 11 minutes of the first half. Tete made a layup with 7:36 to go in the first half giving the Blue Hose their first lead of the game at 18-17. At the 5:34 mark Raymon Pratt hit a layup, their first field goal in nearly seven minutes of game. With 58 seconds to play Dillard hit a three putting PC up 32-22 which would be the halftime score.

With 16:09 to play Kwei Lartey hit a three giving the Aggies a 39-37 lead, their first since the 7:36 mark of the first half, it marked a 17-5 run for North Carolina A&T to start the second half. The remainder of the half went back and forth; the Aggies would lead by six on a couple of occasions but that was the largest for either team.

At the 5:26 mark PC was fouled and North Carolina A&T charged with a technical for slapping the basketball. The Blue Hose made three of the four free throws to go up 60-59. The Aggies came right back down the floor with a layup to retake the lead.

Following the under-four media timeout North Carolina A&T sunk a pair from the charity stripe giving the Aggies a 65-62 lead. Bell answered that with four straight points to retake the lead for PC at 66-65. The Aggies weren’t giving in though as they made their own layup to make it 67-66. Bell went on another 4-0 run to make it 70-67. With eight seconds to play the Aggies tied the game at 70-70 on a three by Femi Olujobi, Bell came right back down the floor knocking in the game winner with .4 seconds remaining giving PC the 73-70.

For the Record

PC with their third straight win improves to 4-5 on the season while the Aggies drop to 5-3.

Notables

This marks the Blue Hose’s first three game winning streak versus Division I opposition since 2011.

Tete’s three blocked shots is a career high and ranks tied for 15 in PC Division I history.

Tete’s 5-8 in field goals were a career high.

Crouch had a career high 13 points on a career best 4-6 from the field.

Bell finished with 22 points and was a perfect 7-7 from the field in the second half.

PC has had a player score at least 20 points in seven of the last nine games including three straight.

Up Next

PC hosts South Carolina State in game three of their four game home stand on Tuesday, December 5 at 7:00 p.m.